“We checked out the guards,” Seng said. “If one of them was on to what was happening, he’d be out of Mecca by now. They’re all still on the job.”
The conference room was quiet for a moment as the team thought.
“You said you checked out the guards,” Linda Ross said, “so you have the schedules and such?”
“Sure,” Seng said.
“Then the only way I see this going down is to switch all four,” Ross said.
“That’s good,” Halpert said, “hit them at shift change—replace the oncoming guards with our team.”
“Then what?” Seng asked.
“Turn off the power to all of Mecca,” Reyes said, “and have them make the switch.”
“But then we have four guards that will be found at the next shift change,” Seng said.
“Boss,” Gannon said, “by then the teams from Qatar will be safely away and the Saudis can do what they will.”
The room was quiet for a second as Seng thought.
“It’s crude,” he said at last, “but doable.”
“Sometimes you need to split a coconut with a rock to get to the milk,” Gannon said.
“I’ll take it to Hanley,” Seng said, rising.
WHILE THE PLANNING session on the
“Spread out up the tunnel,” Skutter said to the others, “and find out how many of these there are in here.”
Then he turned to the only man on his team with any training in demolition. “What do you think?”
The man smiled, reached in his pocket for wire cutters and pulled them out. Reaching down, he pulled up a wire and snipped it in two. Finding a few others, he cut those as well, and then started unwrapping the duct tape from the pipe.
“Crude but damned powerful is how I’d describe these,” the man said, laying the C-6 and the dynamite separately on the ground of the tunnel.
“That’s it?” Skutter said in exasperation.
“That’s it,” the man said. “One thing, however.”
“What’s that?”
“Be careful and don’t kick or drop the dynamite or anything,” the man said. “Depending on its age, it could be unstable.”
“Don’t worry,” Skutter said, “we’re leaving it here.”
Within two hours the charges would all be disabled and the tunnel would be checked then double-checked to make sure. Then Skutter could call and report.
WHILE THE DEMOLITION man was snipping the wires on the first explosive package, Hanley was phoning Cabrillo on the
“That’s what we’ve got, boss,” he said after he finished filling Cabrillo in on the plan they had come up with. “It’s crude, I’ll admit.”
“Have you spoken to Kasim yet?” Cabrillo asked.
“I wanted you to clear it first.”
“I’m with it,” Cabrillo said. “Why don’t you fax me everything you have so I can brief the CIA man. Meanwhile, I’ll call Kasim and report what we came up with.”
“I’ll send it now.”
“YOU’LL NEED TO move fast,” Cabrillo explained to Kasim. “Shift change is at two a.m.”
“What about any explosives?” Kasim asked.
“The CIA man who’s delivering Abraham’s Stone will have a dozen chemical sniffers. Have the rest of the men in your team spread out and search while you do the switch.”
“Okay,” Kasim said.
“You have an hour and forty minutes for you and your team to make your way to the Great Mosque, observe the guards so you understand the procedures, then find the incoming guards, disable them and take their places. Can you do it?”
“It would seem we have no choice.”
“This is all riding on you, Hali,” Cabrillo said.
“I won’t let you or my religion down,” Kasim said.
“I’ll finish briefing the CIA agent and send him on his way,” Cabrillo said. “There’s a car and driver waiting to take him to Mecca as we speak. He’ll enter the Great Mosque at ten minutes after two if he doesn’t hear gunfire.”
“We’ll be there,” Kasim said.
The telephone went dead, and Kasim turned to his team. “Listen up,” he said, “we have our orders.”
CABRILLO TOOK THE sheets from the fax and quickly briefed the CIA agent. Once that was done, he boarded the shore boat with the agent for the ride across the water to the port of Jeddah. It was a pleasant night, seventy-five degrees with almost no breeze. The moon was waning and cast a pale glow on the
